The present invention relates generally to the delivery of drugs to patients, particularly to systems for providing drug delivery, and specifically, to locking mechanisms for systems for providing drug delivery.
Certain drugs rarely achieve their maximum therapeutic action through conventional injection techniques. The therapeutic activity of such a drug is improved considerably when it is delivered at controlled rates to maintain optimum drug concentration for a specific period. In a typical drug injection, a greater dosage than necessary must be administered to keep the drug concentration within the effective therapeutic margin for the minimum period needed for treatment. With controlled drug infusion, the drug can be given at a precise rate that will keep the drug serum concentration within the therapeutic margin and out of the toxic range. Continuous drug delivery is assuming an ever increasing role in the treatment of acute and chronic illnesses. Many drugs reach their full potential only through precise delivery over an extended period of time.
Continuous intravenous infusion has been the only conventional method of administering drugs at constant controllable rates for prolonged periods. Conventional equipment requires the patient to be hospitalized and attended by medical professionals frequently. These requirements make the system somewhat impractical and expensive for a non-critical patient who could be treated outside the hospital.
In systems providing continuous drug delivery which do not rely solely on gravitational force for drug delivery, mechanisms for forcing the drug from the storage container to the patient such as pumping mechanisms are utilized. Such mechanisms are generally not disposable but are reused with disposable drug storage containers. Thus, a need has arisen for a locking mechanism for drug delivery systems allowing securement of the mechanism to the disposable drug storage container. Additionally, in many applications, it is desireable that such locking mechanisms prevent access to the drug storage container by unauthorized personnel.